Page 49 of The 13th Daughter
Arwan was an old God of War and sometimes called the silver-tongued King of Hell. He rode collecting souls for the Underworld. He was called upon when vengeance was needed and mortal means were not deemed suitably harsh enough. Arwan would collect the souls to serve in his Hell for eternity. The second deity I discovered was Agrona, goddess of war and slaughter. There wasn't a lot known about her except that she was called upon in battle to ensure the slaughter of a clan's enemy.
Our school uniforms bore the combined insignia of the god and goddess of death, destruction, and slaughter. As was the town monument. In a way, I could understand the choice. Ourfamilies had been betrayed by members of their own Coven, and anyone would want vengeance. The curse had to have something to do with that betrayal. Maybe the symbol was a way of reminding the future generations of what their ancestors lost and to strengthen the desire to keep that hatred alive? Just because I understood it, didn't mean I agreed with it.
I went on a fishing expedition and Googled the word curse and the thirteenth daughter. Useless. Nothing relating to Salem or the burnings came back. I really didn't expect to find anything, but tried nonetheless. I figured it was worth a shot.
One thing left to check. Ethan Matthew Warren. I surfed through hundreds of pages, but could find no one remotely similar to Ethan. No Facebook, no My Space, no Twitter, no nothing. Who in their right mind didn't at least have a Facebook page? Apparently my boyfriend. Was he really who he said he was? The bigger question, and one I didn't have an answer to, was why couldn't I just trust him like he asked? I shook my head and turned my thoughts back to the symbol.
Even though I discovered what might be the origins of our insignia, I was still sitting at square one. Emily's Book of Shadows was nowhere to be found the then someone had the audacity to steal my damn Book. Maybe Dad. I knew without asking he wouldn't tell me if he had. Worse, he'd want to know how I knew and I refused to lie to him again. I felt bad enough as it was for doing it before.
I was back to Emily's Book of Shadows. I needed to find it. But how? I'd looked everywhere I could think of. She said I knew where it was, but I didn't. I'd read every Nancy Drew mystery novel I could get my hands on when I was younger. I should be better at finding clues and solving mysteries. Dammit, why couldn't something just be easy for once in my life?
"CJ!"
"Yeah, Dad?" I hollered.
"Someone's here to see you!"
Jeff. Maybe he could tell me what happened at the meeting. I wasn't betting on it. It wasn't Jeff's voice I heard, though, when I reached the top of the stairs. It was Ethan's.
"You shouldn't be anywhere near her," Dad told him.
"Believe me, Mr. Bishop, Cassie is safer with me than with anyone else in town."
"For now," Dad growled.
Ethan remained silent.
For now? What did that mean?
"If you hurt her..."
"You already did that, I believe," Ethan countered. His voice held the icy bite of a blizzard's sharp sting. "Sir."
Best to stop this before it went any further. I bounded down the stairs and stopped, my heart in my throat. He stood just inside the entryway holding a bouquet of daisies. His hair was tousled from the wind outside. A black, long sleeved tee-shirt molded to his biceps and abs and his poured on jeans hugged his ass indecently. I wanted to drool. Melt in your mouth M&M. And he was all mine.
"Hey," I greeted him, a smile on my face.
He turned and looked me over from head to toe. The intense look in his eyes made me blush. Did he have to look at me like that and with my father not more than a foot away? I glared at him. He laughed.
"CJ, why didn't you tell me you were dating Ethan?" Dad glowered at me.
"I don't know," I shrugged. "It just never came up."
"Is he the jerk who had you in tears?" he asked, eyes boring into Ethan.
"Yeah, but he apologized for being an ass and I forgave him."
"Ethan, dear," Mom smiled hugely as she came out of the kitchen. "It's good to see you. I'm glad you and CJ were able to work out your differences."
"I'm just glad she saw it in her to forgive me," he winked at Mom. My eyes narrowed. They seemed awfully chummy. This could be a perfect time to find out who was lying.
"So, Ethan, Mom told me something very interesting. She said your dad made sure to bring you to visit your granddad every summer. Here to New Salem."
He frowned and looked confused. "No, Cassie, we never came to New Salem. Its true Dad brought me to visit Gramps every summer, but we usually met him in Statesville or Mooresville. Dad promised my mom he wouldn't bring me here and he didn't."
Mom nodded. "I'm sorry, CJ, if you misunderstood. I met up with Ethan and his father in Signal Hill Mall about two years ago while they were visiting. His father told me then he was trying to convince his wife to let Ethan come spend some time here to learn about this side of his heritage. That's all. I never meant to imply anything else."
Maybe neither of them was lying and I was just beyond paranoid. It seemed such a simple answer. Dad's thunderous face made me believe otherwise. He turned away and stomped into the living room. I chose to ignore what I couldn't understand at the moment. Ethan was here. My heart nearly exploded at the sight of him.
